Category Archives: LEGO

You’d probably expect a lot of the posts on a LEGO website like The Brothers Brick to be about LEGO, and you’d be right. If you’re browsing this page, you might want to consider narrowing what you’re looking for by checking out categories like “Space” and “Castle.” We’re sure there’s something here that’ll fascinate and amaze you.

Just a pile of parts? These giant LEGO pieces are the perfect illusion

Did you do a double take? Same here! If you’re still confused, zoom in. This is the most exceptional upscale of LEGO pieces I have ever seen. Prolific builder Inthert has pulled off a bit of genius with this latest creation. While every element is expertly crafted, a few stand out as top notch. Minifigure parts, for example, are one of the hardest things to build, but including one was a must. Yet among many piles of unsorted brick are not one but two torsos, and one’s even holding a lightsaber. These torsos are identifiable from both distance and up close, and Luke’s even incorporates string to finish the illusion. Moving on, there’s a cheeky tribute to the “brittle reddish-brown” epidemic, which couldn’t be more spot-on. (Rest in pieces, 1×3 plate!) But my most favorite detail has to be the black airtanks with the flexible hose “neck bracket” wrapped around a brick stud.

Something else to marvel: there is not a single exposed real top stud among the brick-built copycats. Now, if you’ve been bitten by the upscale bug, you can see more enlarged LEGO elements in our archives. You can also check out more builds from Inthert.

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Lime Drop

LEGO car builder Tony Bovkoon has done something you don’t see much of. You take a Volkswagen lime and white T1 campervan, drop the stance, move the rear engine to about mid-chassis and give the whole shebang a dropside bed. Fenders bring some of that lime color to the rear of the build and a keg-style fuel tank in the bed finishes out the look. This is the kind of thing that only makes sense in dreams. My dreams anyway, and probably a few of Tony’s. If you’re interested in having the kind of dreams Tony and I have, here’s a thematic tie-in that might get you started.

The doors open, it has a fully detailed interior and all the niceties you can expect from a LEGO vehicle of this scale. This photo best illustrates the engine, truck axle, and ground scraping stance.

Leave it to the beaver

I grew up in the state of Oregon, USA, where the beaver is our state animal. I also attended Oregon State University, where Benny the Beaver is our school mascot. So I guess I have a bias for these buck-toothed builders. When I saw this cute little guy, built by Miro Dudas, I had to write about it. Now, it’s not just because this animal is significant for me; it’s nicely done. The aspen tree looks great and using legs for paws gives it organic character. The most clever part: using leg hips for teeth!

Miro does a great job with LEGO wildlife, like this quiet fox, a curious bear cub, and a gorgeous stag.

Interview with LEGO Star Wars 75275 A-wing Starfighter designer Hans Schlömer [Feature]

Earlier this month, LEGO revealed 75275 A-wing Starfighter as the latest Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series set in advance of the set’s release for the May the Fourth celebration, and normally we’d be bringing you an in-depth review of the set about now. However, like so many other areas of our lives these days, the coronavirus shutdowns have thrown a wrench into our plans, because LEGO hasn’t been able to get us an early review copy. So in the meantime, we caught up with the set’s designer, Hans Schlömer, to learn a bit more about the set.

75275 A-wing Starfighter will be available starting May 1, and will retail for US $199.99 | CAN $259.99 | UK £179.99.

I want to note up front that I usually conduct interviews after I’ve built the set and had a hands-on experience with it, but due to current events I don’t yet have it. So my apologies if a few of these questions would be obvious after building the set. But let’s start with learning a little about you. How did you become a LEGO designer?

Hans Schlömer: 12 years ago I was hired to design 3D models for a LEGO online game. Creating LEGO models in 3D was a hobby of mine for years. Little did I know that this would also be the perfect education and training for becoming a LEGO designer!

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A canopy as tasty as a canape

These are challenging times. I’m pretty sick of hearing that. Even more, I’m pretty sick of living it. But occasionally…occasionally…challenges can be pretty great, too. I mean, it’s hard to be too grumpy when great LEGO builders challenge each other and we get to look at the sweet, sweet results. One such outcome is the 4-D4 Recon & Fighter Craft built by Inthert. Challenged to build a ship around a specific 10x4x3 canopy in under 48 hours, the resulting ship still looks like it took months of work.

The orange version of the canopy is lifted from 2007 Mars Mission theme, but that’s not the only callback. The black, white, and orange color scheme is also a direct tribute, as are those orange wheels. The curve to the front of the ship is the result of some very tricky building, but it’s the triangular bracing at the ends of the arc that makes me smile the most. Or maybe it’s those tank treads. Or the texture and pattern from those grey wedge plates. It’s hard to make a choice. It’s all just so tasty.

Anyone else suddenly hungry for a re-release of Mars Mission?

Blessed brick Jubilee Church is a divine achievement

ARK.builds’ 1:125 scale model of the Jubilee Church in Rome is a stunning facsimile with its accurately recreated curved walls, a supremely technical feat.

I’m just blown away by this model; there’s complexity in representing a very organic real-world building and ARK.builds made it look easy. With such a complicated exterior I didn’t expect to see was any kind of interior, but he’s done it up complete with pews, organ, altar, and cross.

I asked the builder how these stunning curved walls were achieved and he shared the photo below. It looks incredibly fiddly with multiple hinges but it certainly got the job done.

April showers bring May flowers, right? Right?

Perhaps it has been all this time indoors. Maybe it’s the fact that it has been raining a bunch, and I have small children who cannot be kept out of the mud by anything short of shock collars (which I have not tried, for the record). But when I see this build by why.not?, I get the feels. It’s sad and grey, with only dark and dingy colors, just like an afternoon of re-runs of Clifford the Big Red Dog with toddlers with rain pouring down outside. While I love the rocks made from the huge pieces, and the decrepit shrine is well done, too, it’s the rain that strikes me most with this build. The brick-built sky, with the slanting dark grey raindrops against the light grey clouds, is melancholy enough, but the dark tan water, with tiles inserted at differing depths to simulate raindrops plunking onto the surface, really brings the effect home. Golly. Are those really raindrops, or just my tears?

Six new LEGO Harry Potter sets revealed for summer 2020 with centaurs, Hogwarts expansion, buildable Hedwig and more [News]

LEGO has revealed six Harry Potter sets coming this summer, expanding the Wizarding World with new minifigures and scenes from multiple films. Hogwarts-based sets include the Astronomy Tower, the Room of Requirement (with new Patronus figures), and the Forbidden Forest: Umbridge’s Encounter (with new LEGO centaurs). The other three sets include Attack on The Burrow, 4 Privet Drive and a brick-built mechanical Hedwig.

These six new LEGO Harry Potter sets will become available on August 1st in the US and two months earlier in other select regions starting on June 1st (though LEGO will be offering pre-orders starting April 30th in some regions). In the US, the Burrow will be a Target exclusive and the brick-built Hedwig will be a Barnes and Noble exclusive–both likely to be available eventually from LEGO as well.

Take a closer look at each of the new LEGO Harry Potter sets coming for summer 2020.

Taking social distancing to the extreme

Some folks are handling this whole social distancing thing better than others. Some dislike it so much that they’ve picketed outside of empty statehouses in large groups with guns and misspelled signs demanding the end to all this safety lockdown hoopla. While you’re mulling over that sound logic, allow me to present a guy who has no problems with social distancing. Harold, the hermit, has lived peacefully atop a rocky island for many years. He’s been doing this for so long, LEGO builder valerius_maximus goes on to say, that the rock supporting his little home has just about eroded away. Soon he’ll have to find another ramshackle hideaway or risk toppling ass-over-tea-kettle into the drink. (As they say in New England.) But for now, the fishing is good, the carrots look like they’re just about ready for harvesting, and Harold has all the friends he needs. Seagulls are friends, right?

76157 Wonder Woman vs. Cheetah now available from LEGO [News]

The newest LEGO DC Comics set 76157 Wonder Woman vs. Cheetah is now available from LEGO. The set comes with 371 pieces and includes three minifigures of Wonder Woman, Cheetah and Maxwell Lord. The set is currently available for US $39.99 | CAN $49.99 | UK £34.99 (with 2x VIP points for the month of May).

The Warner Bros. film Wonder Woman 1984 was originally slated for June 5th, though it has been delayed until August 14th because of the coronavirus. The Wonder Woman set is now available from LEGO along with the new Minions sets and Star Wars helmets.

Click to see more photos of the Wonder Woman LEGO set from our original product announcement.

Isn’t it about time?

This orange, perfectly balanced scale by Joe incorporates microscale vignettes representing the effects of time. There are several details to hunt for and appreciate here — check out the teeny tiny tree trunks on the mountain side of the scales, and the really subtle shaping about a third of the way up from the base of the clock achieved with minifig chairs placed top-to-top.

Will anyone trade me two bricks for one sheep?

I’m trying to build the longest road here, folks. I need those bricks. Anyone who has ever played the board game The Settlers of Catan will instantly relate to this build by Cab ~, with the hexagonal board tiles and the wooden game pieces. This one is built in three dimensions, however, and with LEGO bricks. Impressively, the whole scene is LEGO, including the cards in the background, the table, and the dice. I happen to love mosaics, and the work that went into those cards is well worth it. I also love Catan, so this build has me wanting to have a game night. The only problem is the social distancing. Maybe if we all sit six feet apart it will work…

It’s also an entry to the Iron Forge, the open-to-all-comers entry competition to the famous Iron Builder, so you can see lots of minifigure legs in the build. They give the hexagons their distinctive shape. I also love the clips for the sheep’s grass and the grille tiles for wheat. Now if only I had built my settlement on the bricks.